Chapter 4 Vacations and a Hike

It was a not-so-busy afternoon at the Beyblade Battlegrounds. Kyoya and Nile were very bored at the top of their pyramid, so they unanimously decided to take the rest of the day off. Nile was hungry, so he stopped at Toby's Tacos on the way home.

Kyoya took no stops. He got home and was about to turn on the TV when he saw something off to the side that caught his eye. He walked over and picked it up. It was his voucher of plane tickets to go to Cozumel, Mexico, which he had won at Masamune's party. He sighed; now would be the perfect time for a vacation. He packed his luggage and headed out the door into his car. He drove out of town, headed for the airport.

Meanwhile... "Are you sure you know where we're going?" asked Ray.

"Of course I do! I have the map and compass!" Tyson told him. Max's mom had dropped them off in a forest in southern Vermont, and Tyson was trying to find the nearest town.

Ray looked closer. "I think you're holding the map upside-down, Tyson." Ray flipped the map around.

"Oh!" said Tyson. "That's why I thought we were in New Hampshire! Well guys, the nearest road looks about five miles away and the nearest town about twenty. What do you think? I say we head for the road and hitch-hike to a town."

"Looks like that's our best option," said Kenny glumly. No way was he going to hike twenty miles. He felt like he had already walked fifty!

Tyson led the way, and Kenny used his laptop to could their miles. (Internet service was down.) Hilary complained about blisters on her blisters as Tyson sang "Left, left, left, right, left!" Ray made sure Tyson was heading the right way, and Max was struggling along with a bunch of Kenny's luggage that he couldn't carry. Kai followed silently along in the back of the odd procession.

Over an hour later, Kenny announced that they had gone exactly five miles. They headed onward and soon came to a curve in the road. A car had just raced past them; they were too late for a ride.

"No!" cried Hilary.

It was early evening, around five o'clock. Nile decided to pay Kyoya a visit at his house. Ding dong! The doorbell rang. No one answered. Nile counted out thirty seconds and rang again. Ding dong! Still no answer. So Nile walked next door to Gingka's house. Gingka answered before he even rang the bell.

"What's up Nile?" he asked. "Masamune, Yu, Tsubasa, Rose, and I are having an Xbox tournament. Care to join?"

"Actually, I'm just wondering if you know where Kyoya is. He's not home," Nile told Gingka.

"Oh," said Gingka. "Well, I thought that King mentioned..." he trailed off.

"Mentioned what?" prompted Nile.

"Um... I forgot," said Gingka. He shut the door and went back to his Xbox tournament.

Nile sighed, and went to ask King King himself. Once at the castle, King welcomed Nile in and asked him what he wanted to know.

"Gingka said you knew where Kyoya was, and I'm looking for him, so I came here," Nile said.

"Yes. I heard from someone, and I can't remember who, but that person said they saw Kyoya leave town with a bunch of gear. I assume he must be going on the vacation he won at that party of Masamune's," said King.

"You know," said Nile. "That sounds like a great idea. I'll go on my vacation as well."

Nile thanked King, went home, packed, and then got in his car and drove off to the airport. He wondered what he would do in LA. Oh well, he thought. I can always decide what to do and where to go once I get there. Nile left town at 85 miles per hour. Reckless, but not nearly as reckless as Ryuga's 95 miles per hour.

When will the next car come?" whined Max. The car that the Bladebreakers had missed had been the only one they had seen going either way on the road. Kenny was laying in the middle of the road with one ear to the pavement. He was listening for cars coming on the street. He claimed he would be able to feel the vibrations sooner than see the vehicle.

"I-I feel something!" he cried out to them all.

"Who? Where?" asked Max excitedly. He rushed into the street to get close to Kenny.

"If there's a car coming, the last place you want to be is in the street," remarked Ray.

Max and Kenny rushed off the road. "Oh no! My laptop!" cried Kenny. He had left it in the road. He rushed back out into the road, grabbed his computer and rushed out, narrowly missing being hit by Nile, who was still driving at a reckless 85 miles per hour.

Nile slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt. "Are you kids all right?" he asked Max and Kenny.

Tyson rushed up as the two nodded. "Can you help us?" he asked Nile.

"That depends. What do you need?" asked Nile.

"Can you drive us to the nearest town?" asked Tyson.

"Sure," said Nile. "I just left it about a minute ago."

Ray looked at the map. "But the nearest town is fifteen miles away still. You weren't driving that fast."

"Oh, you must not have an updated map," Nile told him. "The town I'm from is relatively new to the area, so it hasn't been put on any but the very newest maps."

"Well," said Ray. "Just take us to that town."

The Bladebreakers and Hilary piled into Nile's SUV and Nile turned around to head back into town. "By the way," Tyson said. "Do you know if a Zeo Zaggart has been in your town recently?"

Nile smiled. "Oh, I highly doubt it."

"Why not?" asked Hilary.

"You'll see when we get there," said Nile.

Kai frowned in the passenger seat. He had a strange feeling that Nile knew of a connection between Zeo and the town, but what kind of connection could it be?